Catalog entry

Commentary

Lane’s harbor scenes fall into two broad categories. The first is the harbor at work, full of energy and activity, with vessels and men engaged in a fascinating array of tasks. The second category is the harbor at rest, usually depicted in the calm of early morning or evening, with vessels lying at anchor drying their sails and a few men idling around the docks or rowing through the still water.

This is one of Lane’s finest paintings of a harbor at rest. There is an epic quality to it, as if great things are happening on a grand stage. The seamen in the foreground are no dockside idlers but appear to be engaged in a Socratic dialogue, the standing man making a point that has the seated man’s rapt attention.

At one time this painting was titled Gloucester Harbor at Sunrise. Erik Ronnberg has proposed that the location of the sun, and the piers that face open water could indicate that the painting is of Portsmouth, New Hampshire—the harbor there aligns on this axis. Also, in the center of the composition is a clipper ship that is noteworthy for its elaborate headrails and moldings and its small figurehead in the likeness of a woman. As Ronnberg has also noted, this slightly outdated beakhead decoration is similar to that of a clipper called "Nightingale," built in Portsmouth in 1851.

There is a quality of history painting to this work. Instead of the European model where kings and noble generals are shown against a glorious background at some triumphant moment, here is the American version—a vision of the new world. The background is simple Nature: sunrise over a harbor that is modest yet made glorious by its golden aura. The vessels are merchant ships—not warships—yet magnificent, particularly the three-masted clipper, as beautiful and functional as anything ever created, and handmade by simple carpenters. The seamen on the dock are citizens of this new world, engaged in a dignified dialogue while seated on an overturned dory draped with a canvas sail, rather than a flag or coat of arms. Here is a vision of America with all her egalitarian virtues on display in the optimistic light of early morning.

Lane has achieved this grandeur by composing the picture using a series of triangles to create stability and to focus attention where he wants it. The men stand at the apex of the foreground triangle that is created by the cannon on the dock and the mast and sail on the right. All of these elements point to the standing man who, with his companion, both smartly dressed and hatted, is painted in more detail than most of Lane’s seamen (see detail below). This vignette is a beautiful piece of painting. The dock is a study in black and grays set off against a surprisingly pink dory: a perfect harmony.

The other major triangle is upside down. The space of the sky and sun are bounded by the ships on either side, with the apex of the triangle pointing down at the men on the dock, adding to their importance in the composition. A secondary triangle runs from the men on the dock up to the top of the three-master, and down the line of sails on the left. The grouping of vessels on the right forms another triangle. Every element of this work is masterfully painted in perfectly graduated tonalities that fill the scene with a luminous, diffused sunlight.

Recent infrared images made by the conservators of the Cleveland Museum of Art show that Lane made very few changes in the pencil drawings of the vessels, while he drew and redrew the figures in the foreground.

– Sam Holdsworth

Supplementary Images

Infrared image (detail)

Photo: Marcia Steele
© Cape Ann Museum

Infrared image (detail)

Photo: Marcia Steele
© Cape Ann Museum

Infrared image (detail)

Photo: Marcia Steele
© Cape Ann Museum

Gloucester Harbor at Sunrise (detail of men on dock in foreground)

Photo: © Cape Ann Museum